Compositions for styling the hair are known, such as, for example, hair spray compositions, hair gels and mousses, hair volumizing compositions, hair smoothing creams, lotions, serums, oils, clays, etc. The goals of many hair styling compositions include holding or fixing the hair in a particular shape, imparting or increasing volume of the hair, smoothing the hair, and/or decreasing or eliminating the appearance of frizz.
Drawbacks associated with current products for styling the hair include that the product can be sticky or tacky and/or can produce a film that imparts a sticky or tacky feel. Moreover, hair styled with current products can be stiff and/or “crunchy” in that the film is hard and brittle resulting in a crunching feel or sound when the hair is touched, which is undesirable for most consumers.
Current products for styling the hair typically include water-soluble film-forming polymers. Depending on the chemical make-up of these polymers, they may be either soluble in water, or they may be water insoluble polymers which are made water soluble via various chemical modifications, such as neutralization. Solutions comprising these polymers tend to be viscous, and often as the concentration of the polymer increases, its viscosity rapidly increases. In styling applications, as the solvent evaporates, the polymer solution becomes thicker on the hair surface, resulting in a sticky or tacky film. These products also tend to exhibit problems with product spreadability, hair manageability, and humidity resistance, which is especially a problem in hot and humid environments.
Particularly, while previous compositions comprising latex polymers may provide clean properties to the hair given its anionic nature, the clean properties can translate into difficult application and/or distribution of the product, quick absorption, dryness, and/or possibly static in the hair. The presence of film formers can also leave the hair with a stiff, crunchy, and/or sticky feel. Often, traditional silicones may be used to overcome the brittleness and stiffness caused by the film, however this tends to make the hair feel greasy and oily. Alternative conditioning agents, such as non-ionic silicones and humectants, can actually plasticize the film produced by the product, thus affecting its high humidity curl retention, and creating build up, which weighs down the hair.
It has now been surprisingly and unexpectedly discovered that combining at least two latex polymers, wherein at least one latex polymer is a film-forming polymer, with at least one aminofunctional silicone, at least one amphoteric surfactant, at least one alkylpolyglucoside, at least one anionic thickening agent, produces a composition that exhibits excellent conditioning properties in wet and dry stages of hair while maintaining desirable care benefits and styling and shaping properties. Such compositions can allow for a clean, natural, and/or “invisible” feel; a lack of stickiness; frizz control; high humidity resistance; curl and/or wave definition; and styling hold with or without the use of heat. Some compositions may be useful in hair-styling applications wherein styling benefits such as natural look, curling or straightening, and/or styling hold are imparted to hair.